LOS ANGELES – For the past year or two, soothsayers in the interactive entertainment business have claimed that virtual reality is the future of video games. But they’re wrong.

Virtual reality is the future of home entertainment as a whole. Mark my words. Video games are simply going to be the thin edge of the wedge, proving that a technology that used to seem like a sci-fi pipe dream is now ready for prime time.

Virtual reality gaming headsets will begin arriving in stores in a year or so, looking like a cross between futuristic ski goggles and something the Daft Punk duo might wear in concert. With high-resolution screens, powerful computer processors and an array of sophisticated motion sensors, these devices completely envelop players’ senses of sight and hearing, immersing them in 3D digital worlds that can be anything from the cockpit of a space fighter to the forest of an enchanted kingdom.

Oculus VR, the Kickstarter success that Facebook recently bought for a whopping US$2 billion, will likely be the first to market with their Oculus Rift headset, currently in the late stages of prototype.

“After games, we’re going to make Oculus a platform for many other experiences,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a blog post. “Imagine enjoying a courtside seat at a game, studying in a classroom of students and teachers all over the world or consulting with a doctor face-to-face – just by putting on goggles in your home.”

Virtual reality has been a staple of sci-fi for decades, particularly in the ’90s with movies like The Lawnmower Man, Virtuosity and David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ, about a virtual reality gaming console. But at the time, real-world virtual reality experiences meant expensive, cumbersome headsets and nausea-inducing, low-resolution visuals.

The Oculus Rift, along with devices like Sony’s Project Morpheus for the PlayStation 4, are poised to change that. These gadgets have overcome most of the technological hurdles that have held virtual reality back from the mainstream. And the floodgates are about to open.

Virtual reality had a significant coming-out party at the recent Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, dominated by Oculus and its second-generation Rift prototype, which game developers can buy now for $350. Meanwhile, Sony was showing off Project Morpheus at packed demonstration stations in its sprawling PlayStation booth. And from everyday gamers to top-tier developers, people were wowed.

“It made me feel a bit like Tom Cruise in Top Gun,” said Maxime Beland, creative director at Ubisoft Toronto, after going hands-on – and eyes-on – with the Oculus Rift game EVE: Valkyrie, a space dogfighting simulation that will be one of the first titles available when the Rift launches.

It wasn’t Beland’s first time trying the Rift – Ubisoft’s Toronto studio has some earlier Oculus prototypes – but it was his first time with the newest version of the hardware and the latest batch of demonstration games. And now he’s a believer.

“It’s going to open up new types of games. Games that are maybe more immersive, maybe less violent, more beautiful, more contemplative,” he said. “We’re definitely going to see a lot of experiences, if not games, that are going to arise that are going to be super, super interesting.”

There’s no release date set for the Oculus Rift – fall 2015 is the tentative window – and Sony is even more vague about Morpheus’ timing.

“I think we’re doing the right thing, letting it bake until it gets the right kind of content behind it,” said Sony Computer Entertainment of America president and CEO Shawn Layden.

“The ultimate success of Morpheus will be decided by the type of content people start building for it,” Layden said. “Maybe it’s all about discovery games, like Myst. Or maybe it’s the ultimate racing game controller. Or it’s the fighter pilot’s heads-up display.”

And as Facebook’s Zuckerberg envisions, this content could go far beyond games. Imagine 360-degree movies, where the viewer can look around the scene and focus on any part of it. Or virtual tourism, riding through exotic locales without ever leaving the couch.

Not all titans of the gaming industry are convinced of virtual reality’s promise, though. While Microsoft is pondering options for its Xbox One console – “We’re looking into virtual reality, we’re definitely watching closely, we’re paying attention to it,” said Xbox marketing and strategy officer Yusuf Mehdi – Nintendo has little interest in a virtual reality add-on for its Wii U games machine.

“What virtual reality is doing, in fact, flies in direct contrast with what we’re trying to do with Wii U,” said legendary Nintendo game developer Shigeru Miyamoto. “Wii U, for us, is a device that we want in the living room, and we want it to be a device that everyone interacts with together in a fun and social way.”

And that will certainly be one of the barriers to virtual reality’s acceptance. Gathering the family around a TV to watch a movie or play a game has been part of our culture for decades. Having everyone slip on a high-tech headset to get lost in some shared digital hallucination seems a bit… well, creepy. Or at best, isolating.

Then again, these headsets could replace giant TVs and the space – not to mention money – they require, said Ubisoft’s Beland.

“It makes me wonder, are we going to suddenly build houses with a smaller room for virtual reality? Where I don’t need a big couch and a 60-inch screen and 7.1 surround sound and all the distance to support that?”

Whatever the case, virtual reality is poised to take gaming to the next level, if players are prepared to explore this new digital frontier. At least until we get a Star Trek holodeck, making electronic goggles seem positively quaint.

Hands-on with Oculus Rift and Project Morpheus

I became a true believer when the dragon swallowed me whole.

New virtual reality technologies were front and centre at the recent Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, with several game demonstrations running on Facebook’s Oculus Rift device and Sony’s PlayStation 4 headset technology, codenamed Project Morpheus.

Both headsets have crisp display screens and sophisticated sensors that seamlessly track head movements, allowing you to look around the 360-degree game world as naturally as you’d look around the room you’re in right now.

On the Oculus Rift I piloted a nimble fighter in the sci-fi game EVE: Valkyrie, trying to unlearn the habit of using the gamepad’s thumbstick to control my viewpoint. Instead, I only needed to turn my head in the direction I wanted to look as I weaved around asteroids and chased down enemy fighters. It was a huge thrill, like Battlestar Galactica come to life.

On Project Morpheus I tried a street luge game – players would lie down on a provided beanbag chair to assist in the illusion – that had me careening down a long, winding hill and dodging traffic like a madman.

But it was a medieval castle game on Morpheus that truly sold me on this fledgling technology. Using a pair of PlayStation Move controllers to guide my gauntlet-clad hands in the virtual world, I wielded swords, a flail and a crossbow, slashing, swinging and shooting at practice dummies. It felt utterly natural and completely convincing.

Suddenly, a dragon appeared just a few metres away, and as the giant beast lunged towards me, I yelped with fright and instinctively threw my arms up to protect myself. But by the time its massive maw had enveloped me, signalling that the demonstration was over and it was time to take off the headset, I was gasping with laughter.

It’s been a while since I’ve had that kind of visceral, giddy reaction to a video game. Hopefully it won’t be long before it happens again.